Ghost
by Dragrion
Summary: A Pokemon trainer enters the afterlife a bit sooner than he thought. Please R/R


Ghost  
  
by Dragrion  
  
  
Life One  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Reg (Reginald Efinal) was mostly a normal kid - at least, for a while he was. His life so far was rather ordinary, unitl he got his Pokemon Trainer license when he turned ten years old. He got his first Pokemon at exactly 6:48 in the morning - he had been waiting since five o'clock, but the local professer in Celadon City, Professer Sumac, hadn't woken up yet.  
  
"Hurry up! C'mon!" said Reg. "Hold your horses, Reg, it takes a few minutes to set up," replied Professer Sumac, still half asleep. she had woken when Reg had started ringing her doorbell a hundred times in a row.  
  
"Ok, Reg, now you can pick your Pokemon. I've got three types here - Ghost type, Rock type, and Normal type. The Ghost type is a Ghastly ("Ooooh!"), the Rock type is a Geodude ("Ahhhh!"), and the Normal type is an Eevee ("Oh boy!"), which evolves into a Fire type, a Water type, or a Electric type with a stone, and can evolve into two other types without.  
  
"I'll take the Geodude - wait, no, I'll take the Eevee - actually I'll - no - umm... Eeni, meenie, miny, moe..." Reg went on like this for quite a while.  
  
"Geeze, boy, just close your eyes and pick one," suggested the Professer. "Ok, I guess. Now let me see... Um, that one!" he nearly yelled.  
  
"You can open your eyes now," stated Sumac.  
  
Reg slowly opened his eyes. Before him was what looked like a very small cloud of haze, that in a few seconds condensed to reveal a - Ghastly!  
  
"Here is a Pokedex, and a few Pokeballs too." Prof. Capulet handed him them, and also gave him a small, paperback book. "What is this for?" asked Reg. "It's a guide to the care of Ghost Pokemon - it's because normally, they are one of the hardest types of Pokemon to take care of. For example, Ghost Pokemon don't need to eat, even though they do like to have something that tastes good every so often.  
  
Reg headed home, letting his Ghastly (which he had decided to name Derek - he had always wanted to name the first Pokemon Derek) float around him, free of its Pokeball.  
  
"Hey Mom, I'm back, and I have my first Pokemon!" he exclaimed. "Oh, son, hello. What Pokem- AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! A GHOST! AHHHHH!!!!" she screamed. "Mom, relax! That's my Pokemon. Its a Ghastly!" he said, frantically trying to calm her. "Phew. I was worried that the house had a ghost," she muttered. "Now son, for your journey as a trainer you'll need freshclothesandsocksandafewextrapairsofshoesandunderwairandpajamasandsunglassesandahatortwoandsunscreenandyourbathingsuitandsomeniceclothesincaseyouhavetogotoadanceorsomethingandsomefoodandthisandthisandthisandthisand ..." Reg's mother in all said about a hundred or so things in the space of only about six seconds, stuffing them all into a backpack as she said them. "Oh, and your PokeGear, too, and this belt," she added, holding out Reg's PokeGear and his belt that was made to hold Pokeballs and a Pokedex.  
  
"Thanks, Mom, but I think I'll wait a day before I start my adventure. Besides, you still have to tell the school! And I want to say goodbye to my friends, too," replied Reg.  
  
The rest of that day and most of the next went by quickly. Reg had gotten everything he wanted to bring, including some money from his mom. (Even though he said he could get money from odd jobs and things like that, she insisted, just in case.) He had added quite a few phone numbers to his PokeGear phone book, and had bought an eBookReader and downloaded a bunch of Pokemon guidebooks for beginning trainers. When the time finally came for him to go, he went rather cheerfully, knowing he could call his mom whenever he wanted.  
  
"Well, here I go!" he said, as he walked away from his house.  
  
In his head he was thinking of what he should do. Then, he got an idea. He would go to Saffron City and battle the gym leader Sabrina. Saffron City was only about a week away, and he had heard that Ghost Pokemon were strong against Psychic Pokemon.  
  
The week went by rather slowly. Reg had decided to battle every trainer he met - and lost most of the battles. After a few days, though, Derek (the Ghastly) had started to get stronger, and they began to win battles.  
  
When they were finally in sight of Saffron, Reg met one more trainer. This trainer had a Ghost Pokemon too, and was just going back to her home town after earning a Badge from Sabrina.  
  
"Hello. Would you like to battle?" asked Reg. "Sure, as long as its quick - I have a bus to catch," she replied.   
  
"I choose - Ghastly!" he said.   
"I choose - Ghastly!" she said.  
  
"What?" they both asked the other.  
  
"You have a Ghastly too?" she asked him. "Yes, I do. Hurry up, lets battle!" he answered. "Okay.." she told him.  
  
Both Pokemon were evenly matched, except for one difference - Reg's Ghastly was a little faster than the other.  
  
"Ghastly, use your Night Shade attack!" he yelled. The attack hit the other Pokemon, who finally fainted. "YES! I won! Yeah! I rule! I rule!" he exclaimed.  
  
But, all was not as he thought. A few seconds later -  
  
"Derek! What's wrong?" asked Reg, as Derek (the Ghastly) started shimmering. "He's evolving, you doof," said the other trainer. "Derek, you, you turned into a Haunter!" said Reg.  
  
This gave Reg even more confidence that he would beat Sabrina. The next day...  
  
"Sabrina, I challenge you to a match!" he yelled into the cavernous gym. "Very well," she replied, "but - this match will not be easily won by you."  
  
"I choose - Haunter!" he said.  
"I choose - Kadabra!" she said.  
  
Reg had heard of the strength of Sabrina's Kadabra, and he knew that if he could beat this Pokemon he would probably win the match.  
  
The two Pokemon ferociously battled. Kadabra would barely have finished Teleporting before Teleporting again, and the Haunter floated around the Gym at what seemed like the speed of light, trying to anticipate where Kadabra would teleport.   
  
"Kadabra, no!" yelled Sabrina, as Kadabra finally collapsed from exhaustion. Reg had thought of this beforehand, and had known that if something like this happened, he could win. His thoughts were that Haunter could simply dodge Kadabra's attacks, and keep using simple attacks on it. Kababra would keep Teleporting, draining its energy.  
  
This was Reg's first Gym Badge. As the months wore on, he gained more, until eventually he had gotten enough to participate in the Pokemon League competition. Nearly all of his Pokemon were Ghost type, obtained from trades or caught near ancient cemetaries and graveyards. He became a specialist in Ghost Pokemon, knowing the attacks, how fast each one was, everything. Reg became a better trainer, but eventually had to go back to school for a while. He stayed in school (and then high school and then college) until he was 14, then went off to Pokemon training again. However ...  
  
"Derek, I hope we find some Ghastlys, at least. That trainer will only trade for a Ghastly, and that ghost cat Pokemon is the only kind of Ghost Pokemon I don't have - at least, I think so," Reg muttered to his Ghost Pokemon. He was in a cemetery, in the darkest part of the night. He had thermo-imaging goggles so he could se where he was going without using a flashlight, and to hopefully help him find a Ghastly, even if it was invisible. After all, /some/ heat, even a miniscule amount, should be produced or stored by it, just like heat is produced or stored by anything else. Reg spotted something. However, it didn't appear to be a Ghastly - in fact, it looked like a person! And behind them was a large truck with the back open, full of Pokemon in cages!  
  
"Hey! What are you doing with those Pokemon?" yelled out Reg. "Ack! Boss, its some trainer! Do you want me to get him?" said someone. "No, I will handle this one personally," replied a voice much nearer Reg - in fact, right behind him! "Hello, mister. Now, you can forget about what you've seen and walk away, or we can ... well, we have another way of taking care of troublemakers," the voice continued. "No way! I'm not going to let you hurt these poor Pokemon!" replied Reg. "Well, then..." Reg felt the smash of something into his skull. He sank into blackness...  
  
Life Two  
~~~~~~~~  
  
Reg woke slowly. "What?" he thought, "Where am I?" He couldn't feel his arms. His legs! In fact, he didn't even seem to have his own body. His body was one mostly made of some gas. And, he seemed to be floating. Then he realized - he was a ghost. A Ghastly. "But - this is impossible!" he said to himself. He was floating only a few feet above the ground. Suddenly.. FWAPP! An odd-looking net was drawn around him. He was roughly shoved into an odd cage - it was more like a box, with all the sides completely clear. "Sorry little guy," said the person who had done it, "but the Prof says that Pokeballs dull down the Pokemon a little." Reg desperately tried to escape, but even with his body turned gassy he couldn't get out. He tried to yell at the person carrying him, but all that came out was, "Ghast! Ly Gha Stly!" Reg resigned himself to his fate, seeing as he couldn't really do anything else.  
  
Reg was taken to what seemed like a rather large Pokemon preserve. In the main building, there was a room with a massive box made of the same clear stuff as the smaller cage he had been trapped in. That was were he was kept. He thought he had no hope, until the day when he evolved...  
  
"Why, hello, Test A! You seem energetic today," said the female professer, Meridith. By now, Reg (or Ghost, as he thought would be a better name) had learned what was going on here. This was an experiment on the intelligence of different Pokemon. He would constantly be subjected to different tests - mazes, puzzles, etc - but would usually ignore them. But today was different. He had been feeling odd (odder than usual, at least) since that morning. There was a buzzing in his head, as if a Beedril had decided to hover next to his ear. Strangely, his body started shimmering, and growing. Then he realized - he was evolving! As the shimmering faded, he felt his new hands. It was quite different, considering they were not attached to his body. He experimented a little and found that he could not reach out past a certain length away.   
  
"Oh my, Test A! You've evolved. Note to self: check difference in intelligence quotient," she said. This was what he had been waiting for. Now he had hands! As soon as Meridith had stepped into the 'cage' (followed by a Kadabra) Reg (or Ghost) rushed forward and grabbed her pad of paper and pen. He managed to scribble something before the Kadabra used its Psychic powers to push him to the other end of the 'cage' and get back the paper and pen. As Meridith snatched them out of the air, she glanced down at what Reg had written. "Oh dear! Oh my god!" she said as her eyes seemed to expand and her mouth seemed to drop a few feet. She rushed out of the cage (followed by the Kadabra, which closed the door behind it), dropping the paper on the floor. Reg read what he had written - a single, simple sentence - and smiled that gastly, Haunter smile.   
  
"Call me Ghost."  
  
A few minutes later the scientist rushed back in. No Kadabra this time. "Ghost, or whatever your name is, I have to get you out of here! The second I told my boss, I could tell by the look in his eye he was just going to keep poking and prodding you until he found out why an ordinary Haunter is intelligent enough to write! He get here in a minute or two - he'll be able to tell if you are invisible, but not if you're in a Pokeball! Quick! Get in this one! I'll hide you and get you outside." She held out a Pokeball. Ghost (as he now liked to call himself) gulped. It was either go in a Pokeball or get stuck in a cage for the rest of his life (or, at least, the boss' life). He took the obvious choice. Slowly, hesitatingly, he reached out and touched the little button on the front of the Pokeball.   
  
A red beam shot out the front of the Pokeball and enveloped him before everything turned maroon. He had the feeling of being sucked down a giant straw before it was over. His vision was restored to normal. He was floating in what seemed to him a giant sphere, all made of metal. No! He couldn't move! He slowly fought down the anger that welled up inside him. For what seemed like years, he stayed in the center of that sphere. He could hear a conversation, most likely between the scientist, Meridith, and her boss.  
  
"Meridith! Where is it?" he asked in surprise.  
"I-I don't know! When I got back, the door was open, and it was gone!" she replied.  
"Dammit! That could have been the greatest breakthrough in Pokemon researching of the century. Meridith, if you find it, capture it. Is that clear?" the boss continued.  
"Yes, Fred." she answered.  
  
After this, Ghost felt a gentle but odd wavy feeling, as if he was on a ship or something. In what seemed like a few months, but could only have been a few minutes, it stopped.  
  
"I'm bringing you out - were outside the labs, in the woods," Ghost heard. Then, he had the strange series of sensations as before, only in reverse.  
  
"Here you are. Good Luck!" she whispered to him.  
  
Ghost faded off into the darkness of the forest. 


End file.
